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January 19 2016

Multiple School, Including Burlington High, Received Threats on Tuesday

By: Rich Hosford

Multiple schools in Massachusetts, including Burlington High School, received anonymous threats on Tuesday, prompting many to close their doors for the day.

According to Boston.com, upwards of 15 schools received threats on Tuesday, many of them over the phone, including robo-calls.

Burlington High School received a threat via Skype at approximately 12:15 p.m., prompting all afternoon activities to be cancelled and staff to be sent home. Students had already left the building due to the mid-year exam schedule.

Burlington Superintendent of Schools Eric Conti said the threat received at BHS was vague, with no date or time mentioned and no specific mode of threat stated.

These threats against schools came on the heels of a similar occurrence on Friday when seven Massachusetts schools were threatened. So far no dangerous materials have been found at any of the schools threatened, Boston.com reports.

Conti said in a statement that after the threat came in the Emergency Response Team, made up of school personnel and member of the Burlington Police Department, was gathered.

“After evaluating the situation, and due to the fact that many other schools in Massachusetts received this type of threat last Friday, and many more today, the police assessment was that this is a low level threat and most likely a hoax,” he said.

However, to be cautious, he said all afternoon activities at the school were cancelled and the staff was sent home.

Conti said there would be increased police presence in the morning and during dismissal times tomorrow and school officials will update everyone if the situation changes. As of right now, however, he said the plan is to move ahead with the normal schedule, even if similar threats come in.

"Everything should be normal for tomorrow," he said. "And if the calls continue, unless police change their recommendation, we’ll just notify parents and keep the schools on schedule."